Microsoft, Case Western Reserve University partner on magnetic fingerprinting

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Case Western Reserve University and Microsoft are partnering to advance how doctors can use non-invasive scans to detect disease.

Researchers at CWRU published research in 2013 on "magnetic resonance fingerprinting." Despite the name, this doesn't mean that technicians would get medical information from your fingerprint.

It means a new revolutionary way to to interpret resonance scans. Think of it as trying to improve on an MRI. For an MRI scan, humans are basically placed in a giant magnet. Using the magnetic field and radio waves, technicians can see different parts of the body and find indicators of disease.

With the new technique, signals from different tissues or materials would create "fingerprints" which would match up with those on record to allow for better analysis of and more information from each scan.

This could help with detection of heart disease, multiple sclerosis and cancer.

Though CWRU has been developing the method for years, the calculations necessary to make it work requires a lot of computer power.

Enter Microsoft.

"Quantum computing provides an opportunity to find the truly best way to scan patients," CWRU radiology professor Mark Griswold said in a press release. "We are so excited to explore how far we can push these new quantum and quantum-inspired methods beyond traditional computer algorithms."

Quantum computing, which allows computers to work at a much higher capability by using more information simultaneously, is unstable because it's very quickly using tiny pieces of information. Microsoft, along with tech giants like IBM and Google, are researching how to make it less error-prone.

In the spring, Microsoft announced a new quantum computing method that they think will be much more steady. Officials say it could be working by the end of this year.

This isn't the first time Microsoft and CWRU have partnered up. The university, Microsoft and the Cleveland Clinic worked on the idea of using the HoloLens, an augmented reality headset that would allow anatomy students to use holograms, rather than cadavers, to learn about the body. CWRU students have used the not-yet-released headset for other projects as well.

The team working on magnetic resonance fingerprinting is looking to pull from HoloLens technology to create a three-dimensional model of scan results, according to the press release.